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Read this little blurb this morning, on the Yahoo News site:

In this photo released Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2005, by the Denver Police Department, Jason Glen Tervort, 26, is shown, in Denver Colo. Passengers on a Frontier Airlines plane carrying Hurricane Katrina evacuees from Houston to Denver apparently beat Tervort then tied him up with duct tape after he allegedly assaulted a flight attendant. According to a federal arrest warrant, Tervort walked up to flight attendant Sarah Dinkelman an allegedly poked her in the shoulder and chest while saying, ``I'm a man,''then began pushing and slapping her. (AP Photo/The Denver Police Department)

I
LOVE
THOSE
PASSENGERS!

I'm talking Frontier Justice here, and it needs to come back. Why step up to help AFTER things go bad? Kick someone's ass merely on suspiscion of bad behavior??? Last night at Winged Horse Pizza I started off and immediately got a heckler, a drunken, Looky-Me!, asspipe, shitwad heckler. And he wouldn't shut up, so I laid into him. People loved it. THey were tired of his deal, and his friends wouldn't just reach over and say "Hey man, come on. Head injury or not, don't let your one night off the chain go like this."

I brought up the next comic and then before the headliner, the Drunk, who wasn't even a good heckler, started yapping again. So I told him once more to shut it, and then told the crowd "Alright, I've done all I can, it's on you guys now. It's Vigilante Justice until the end of the show. There's no anti-violence policy here, it's not a cubicle farm. And nobody's gonna tell if one more loser cruiser goes missing."

And he piped down the rest of the time. Maybe it was me, maybe he realized he wasn't getting anywhere with the ladies, or he's just a wad when he's drunk. Or all three. Whatever it is, the past 11 days has shown us that banding together BEFORE things go wrong, and understanding that we're on the same side if it goes down like this, that can get around in a hurry. But it's gotta start somewhere.

I'm off to a wedding in Michigan. I hope Brad and Dave will be very happy.

Take Me Home

My Blog About My Dad

Filling Your Holes

Hurricane Katrina has destroyed the city of New Orleans. The water there has 100 times the amount of toxins - many of which are fecal in nature - and the rivers that run through the city streets are littered with debris and corpses. But we can't calm down just yet. It's far from over. Right now we're looking just at the rescue efforts, feeding and sheltering the people who lived through it all. Neighboring states are taking kids from LA, MS, and AL into their homes and school districts. Somehow, people are giving.
Some people are giving a tsunami's-worth of lip service about who screwed up, or how much they are giving to the relief efforts. I've heard that this sports team's owner gave a million, while the company I attend is giving about the same. Just give, and do so without the need to tell everyone how Christ-like your $20 was. People who share the news are probably dropping twice that much each week on coffee and R&B CDs. "Celebrities" are stepping up to ease the suffering by telling everyone else how much they need to give. People in my office are being extra-friendly, as if we all lived through it together and can use this as a Healing Time, okey dokey, smokey artichokey?
You gotta take a look at your Giving Hole. This is the hole that you also Get through. Money will come back to you. Goods will come back to you. Create an opening in your life with the intent of filling somebody else's Getting Hole, and your Getting Hole will be overflowing with goodness. If you constantly draw attention to your Hole, everyone will expect something from it. The Universe can see your Hole under all that ego. Make sure it's pretty enough to be looking into.

Red Cross: Always a good way to go in these situations, but I'm not sure how they disseminate the resources.
WorldVision: Based in Federal Way, this is also a world-wide charitable organization.
Habitat For Humanity: This group will be a key rebuilder of homes when that time comes. Away from Natural Disasters, HfH builds homes for low-income families to get a start in a community. We're all just a couple of bad decisions away from being out on our asses. If you can't see it in yourself to swing your boat around and pick up somebody who's gone overboard, enjoy the icebergs.
FEMA: JOKING! If you see a director of FEMA, kick them squarely in the throat. They held diesel fuel reserves away from New Orleans officials once the Coast Guard notified local officials of it (generator power), they cut local emergency communication lines and set up their own (county Sheriff reconnected them and placed armed guards around switchboxes), and they waited until Katrina hit the coast to tell people to evacuate. Government officials F'ed around and it led to many avoidable tragedies, including not filling school buses with citizens and heading out of town, and Tim McGraw on prime time TV.

Even with all of this going on, people continue to open their homes to the refugees. Bad comedy is still being churned out. Teenagers are still talking on cell phones will driving SUVs. Drugs are still illegal, and now would be a good time to chill out and smell some colors. Everything is back to normal. Sorry.

Take Me Home

My Blog About My Dad